I just wanted to point out that the debate among the contenders to be mayoral candidate for Projet Montréal is available at Ricochet - mostly in French. The questions are of interest for many other cities and towns, and Francine Pelletier is a superbe moderator...
https://ricochet.media/fr/1500/diffusion-en-direct-debat-de-la-course-a-...
I'm voting for Valérie Plante. How about you?
I thought Valérie Plante was the clear winner. My council member is François Limoges, and he has always been good here, but I thought he waffled too much about Lavoie's rightwing crap. Plante was far clearer about the idea of a city for people of all classes and origins.There was a funny when Michel Camus, an old friend of mine and of PM, asked a telling question...
François Limoges, who is my city and borough council member, has withdrawn from the race to support the sleazy new-look snake-oil salesman Lavoie. Thus Valérie Plante is the ONLY progressive option. I'll see how I can support her; if not I don't think I can vote for anyone in the mayoral election as Guillaume Lavoie is as sleazy as Coderre, he just comes across as more "modern" with his sharing-economy crap.
Sharing-economy can mean anything from co-operation to superexploitation of freelancers à la Uber... I very much favour car-sharing, it means fewer cars with one person in them clogging up the roads, but it can mean non-profit carshare or Uber crap.
I'm even more convinced we need Valérie Plante after her declaration about cycling infrastructure today; I especially like the type about cycling education on the school level (as is the case in the Netherlands and Denmark). I wrote back hoping that the team would come up with something as detailed on making walking safe and pleasant; there have been many, many recent accidents involving pedestrians, including more than one hit-and-run fatality.
http://valerieplante.org/index.php/2016/11/22/500-km-de-nouvelles-pistes...
http://valerieplante.org/index.php/2016/11/22/500-km-de-nouvelles-pistes...
The photo is just outside the Laurier St (northern) entrance to Laurier métro. This stretch of Laurier has been vastly improved for pedestrians and cyclists; the photo was taken in what has become a public square, with a farmers' market, which has just wrapped up for the year. Note that it would be both illegal and superfluous to cycle right there (a pedestrian zone); the bidirectional cycle lanes are right next to it on either side of Laurier E.
Great news!!!!!! Valérie Plante has won! http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/valerie-plante-wins-projet-mo...
http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/montreal/201612/04/01-5047904-valerie-...
http://journalmetro.com/actualites/montreal/1059864/valerie-plante-prend...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/projet-montreal-new-leader-1.3880962
http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1003857/projet-montreal-election-che...
Yes!!! I think my vote and yours put her over the top, lagatta!!!
Yes, I confess I only took out my PM card for that reason. I've always voted for them, because I'm a strong environmentalist, but always thought their social program and promises were lacklustre. Yes, better than the leading party, but that wasn't saying much. Valérie seems really committed to social housing, equality for all, and ensuring that better infrastructure extends into poorer neighbourhoods. For example, in my somewhat gentrifying (though far from wealthy) area, there are good new cycle paths, "bulbouts" (saillies de trottoir) to protect pedestrians and better street signals, but go a few streets west into Parc-Ex and there is NOTHING and the traffic is extremely fast and dangerous, despite recent immigrant families with many small children. Idem in St-Michel and farther away, in Montréal-Nord.
Also, she doesn't buy trendy bullshit about mobility and the sharing economy. Yes, of course we want carshare, whether CommunAuto or something else, but if it is private, we want them to pay their taxes.
Yes, I confess I only took out my PM card for that reason. I've always voted for them, because I'm a strong environmentalist, but always thought their social program and promises were lacklustre. Yes, better than the leading party, but that wasn't saying much. Valérie seems really committed to social housing, equality for all, and ensuring that better infrastructure extends into poorer neighbourhoods.
Totally agree - and that's the only reason I paid for a membership too. And no one should forget the betrayal of that Bergeron guy.
But she's all we've got, and we should make sure she wins. So happy I voted - it was close - 51.9%
Also, she doesn't buy trendy bullshit about mobility and the sharing economy. Yes, of course we want carshare, whether CommunAuto or something else, but if it is private, we want them to pay their taxes.
Are CommunAuto and car2go considered part of the "sharing economy"? Obviously in the literal sense they're car-sharing services, but their fleets are owned by the central companies and rented by the hour directly to drivers. Usually when I hear the term "sharing economy", it's in reference to things like Uber, where people on the economic margins do precarious/unlicensed work. I also haven't heard (and I'm mostly a transit-taker, so I may be out of the loop here) about CommunAuto and car2go evading taxes. The only real complaint I've heard is about car2go taking up residential parking spaces.
In terms of tax evasion or avoidance (being incorporated in a tax haven) I was referring to Uber, or any similar scheme. CommunAuto wanted to be a co-op, but registered as a private company as for some reason it was easier (I don't know all the details). Yes, the main problem with car2go is that they seem to park just anywhere; I don't know how they get away with taking up restricted residential parking places. I'm not very up on the "sharing economy" and there is a lot of smoke and mirrors involved, nobody really knows what its exponents are referring to.
And yes, the vote was really close. Of course some status-quo worshippers are saying that Projet Montréal cut its throat, but I don't think that is the case any more - those who are willing to vote on the left want serious action for the 99%.
And yes, the vote was really close. Of course some status-quo worshippers are saying that Projet Montréal cut its throat, but I don't think that is the case any more - those who are willing to vote on the left want serious action for the 99%.
Yes, excuse my French, but fuck the status-quo worshippers. They can go collect their blood money along with Richard Bergeron and other nutbars.
It's time for radical change in Montréal. And for a woman that isn't Mélanie Joly. Win or lose, we will stand up and be counted!
Yes, the main problem with car2go is that they seem to park just anywhere; I don't know how they get away with taking up restricted residential parking places.
They pay (a fairly hefty sum, if memory serves) per car for the right to park anywhere. Since I don't own a car myself, residential street parking has never been a particularly big concern for me, but I can see why there's some controversy over it. Personally, I don't mind a car2go taking up some space; they're tiny, and by their very nature, they're likely to be gone after an hour or two, instead of parked all day. And to the extent they enable some people who would otherwise buy cars to just rent them for a couple of hours, I'd lean in the direction of saying it's a fair tradeoff.
That is fine, if they pay for the privilege. I've never owned a car in my life, but I don't drive either. It does mean that I could pay for it if I can convince a friend to drive one of them somewhere, but I tend to avoid anything that is "mooching" and take taxis back from Ikea or wherever (I've only done that once, I prefer to buy locally if possible).
The original purpose of CommunAuto was to enable people who sometimes need a car to be able to live without buying one, and thus use them far less. I know at least three households who have succeeded in no longer having a private car due to this service, including one with two small children.
By the way, la boutique du Chaînon has a very cheap delivery service if you should happen to find furniture there. Sometimes they have very nice donated stuff.
Another good initiative from Valérie Plante. She got a lot of feedback at her website from people congratulating her but who also had questions or comments on the program.
I wrote in to say that while I most certainly supported her initiatives to make Mtl more family-friendly (could you believe that there is no elementary school in Griffintown yet, despite the huge wave of condo development?) it was also important to remember that the deepest poverty (that is, distance beneath the low-income cutoff) is actually found among one-person households and couples without dependent children. And a "family fare" for public transport is a great idea to discourage acquiring a car (and instead, using carshare when needed) but that a "social fare" for low-income people is also a need, and exists in many places.
Of course the ideal remains free (at point of use) public transport.
Many people just love the idea of "La ligne rose" - the Pink Line. She was wearing a pink scarf when she proposed it.
http://www.monprojetmontreal.org/la_nouvelle_cheffe_a_lecoute?utm_campai...
